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I think it was the KOTOR Campaign Guide that connected Revan/Malak's Empire, which previously was just an isolated case of Republic warlords and fallen Jedi, to past Sith Empires. But then Korriban seemed to function even before Revan, so it might be that there was already infrastructure on Korriban lingering, taken over by Revan. Interestingly, its only in SWTOR where 'Imperial' is used as an adjective for 'a' Sith Empire. Previously during KOTOR 1/2, its been Sith Trooper, Sith Cruiser, Sith planet, etc.

 

Clone Wars (Legends) headcanon:

The Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems both went on a tour of the minor powers of the galaxy to try to enlist their support, military or otherwise, in the Clone Wars.

The Corporate Sector Authority cheerfully said yes. To both of them. There were obvious ideological similarities between their society and the kind of society the Separatists, and especially their backbone in the commerce guilds, were trying to set up. At the same time, they weren't about to jeopardize a longstanding arrangement with Coruscant, and in any case they were too good a bunch of capitalists not to hedge their bets. They supplied both sides and provided services and safe havens to both sides (for a price) throughout the war.

The Hapes Consortium told both of them to go piss up a rope. Surprisingly enough, both sides respected that. Mostly because they were afraid that if they tried to nudge it too hard in their direction, they'd react by going over to the other side.

The Tion Hegemony and the Centrality both joined in on the war. And by "joined in," I mean that they technically signed up on one side, but didn't end up contributing any troops, or much in the way of resources, or much more than an occasional safehaven. Like some of those smaller nations far from the theater of war that joined the Allies in World War One or World War Two but didn't do any actual fighting. (And since the Hegemony and the Centrality still exist in the OT era instead of having been burned to the ground, let's assume they were both on the Republic side).

The real nailbiter was the Senex/Juvex sectors (not necessarily for the firepower, but they're a lot more centrally located than the other powers so they're more strategically valuable, and also hey, food supplies). As agrarian societies ruled by aristocrats with a long history of mutual distrust with the Republic (especially with the little matter of slavery to aggravate things), they have a lot in common with Serenno, and with Separatist ideology more generally, and lots of reasons to hate the Republic. On the other hand, as fierce human supremacists, they have a lot to tie them to High Human Culture, and a deep dislike of aliens, especially the rich and successful aliens that dominate the commerce guilds, therefore lots of reasons to hate the Confederacy. In the end, they pick the Republic. Human supremacy wins out over more abstract ideological considerations. Though Palpatine may also have reassured them on the down-low that under the new government he was forming, they wouldn't have to worry about interference from Coruscant any more than they would under the Confederacy.

 

Bonus Material ("nations" that aren't nations in the traditional sense):

The Hutts, or at least the Hutt Ruling Council, took a leaf out of the Corporate Sector Authority's book: support both sides. Although, being the Hutts, this definitely ended up with at least a couple of gang wars going between kajidics who translated their Hatfield/McCoy traditional enmity into the Republic/Confederacy conflict. Going by what we know from Bantam Era material, let's say that the Besadiis supported the Republic (hence their cozy relationship with Coruscant by the time of the HST, at which point they're the Empire's primary supplier of slaves) and Desilijic supported the CIS (hence being more comfortable sticking it to the Empire and helping Rebels in the HST).

(Newly independentish) Corellian System: basically, Ireland in World War Two. Officially, neutral. In reality, heavily biased towards the Republic. The Separatists may have tried once or twice to muscle them into better behavior, but that didn't go well. Also, many Corellians volunteered to serve on the side of the Republic, with the less than subtle approval of their government (possibly in retaliation for aforementioned Separatist muscling). Bel Iblis had a joyous time doing this; it's also when he formed ties with some other anti-Separatist-but-not-crazy-about-Coruscant militias like Freedom's Sons, which helped him later when setting up the Rebel Alliance.

 

Fair enough; personally I think them being brothers is a little contrived and random (though I do think it ads an interesting dynamic to their interactions), but I'm a big advocate that as many inconistences and contridictions within the lore should be tied up as possible.

(personally, I've always felt that Lucas should have just made Anakin older and already Obi-Wan's apprentice from the start of the Prequals, have Beru be the former's sister and Owen the latter's half/step brother and explain that Obi-Wan first met Anakin via Owen; that way the Lars's remain Luke's blood relatives, Owen remains Obi-Wan's brother, there's no contridictions *and* we get a reason why Beru seems more indulgent of Luke and seems to have a pretty firm grasp of Anakin's personality)

Oh, they certainly were (they seem to have been totally discarded by the time of ANH); I'm just pointing out that it seems that Palpatine was being broadly truthful with Dooku (but misleading him regarding the extent, premence and exect role of the "Sith Army" and his role as it's leader); Palpatine calls the Inquistorius a "project of mine, long planned" when he introduces them to Vader, so he was definantly playing around with the idea beforehand.

Well, Kun was the more powerful Sith, the "man with the plan" and ultimatly, in spite of his and Ulic's relationship being more partners then master/apprentice, he was the clear leader.

And anyway, the Great Sith War is the formal name; perhaps they call it the "Exar Kun War" or the "War with Exar Kun" on the few occasionals they do becuase he was ultimatly the one who ended up being the leader of the belligerant faction?

I mean, "Central African Empire" and the two "Empires of Haiti" were overstatements two, but that did'nt stop their leaders from trying.

What else are megalomaniacal Sith going to call their dominion, hodgepodge of loosely-aligned factions though it may be?

 

I don’t understand that. The British and French didn’t call each other’s forces “Imperial”.

 

The British and the French did'nt have the only empire's in history (though Napoleonic France did us the term "Imperial" to refer to it's military forces).

 

Are we sure the Inquisition was gone by A New Hope? It was never that big to begin with but I could easily see why Vader would handle it personally.

 

Grand Inquisitor Headcanon

* The Grand Inquisitor was, in fact, Count Dooku's third padawan but did not have his training completed by his master. Count Dooku had already begun his studies of Sith magic by this time and become disillusioned with the Jedi order, passing down a lot of his beliefs onto the Pau'an male before abruptly abandoning him.

+ The Grand Inquisitor's training was completed by Jocasta Nu but their relationship was neither friendly nor particularly deep. Jocasta Nu sensed the imprint that Dooku had left on him and kept her distance while trying to "fix" his issues as well as keep him away from Dark Side teachings.

Something the GI considered insulting.

+ Notably, the Grand Inquisitor and Jocasta Nu's other protege, Jerec, could not stand one another and the former seethed with jealousy over the latter being indulged with his desires while he was denied at every turn access to Sith knowledge.

+ Jerec in the canon timeline lost a duel for Grand Inquisitor-ship that genuinely surprised Palpatine. Jerec hadn't counted on the fact the Grand Inquisitor HATED him while he viewed him as an annoyance. It turns out 20 years of microaggressions have a power of their own in driving you mad.

+ The Grand Inquisitor passed his training but his plans to be a Jedi archaeologist and possibly rejoin his master were derailed by the decision to assign him as a Temple guard instead. It was hoped that this assignment, meant to be a high honor, would temper his desire for adventure but left him feeling like he was being held back.

+ Palpatine found him very easy to corrupt and it was actually him who let Anakin Skywalker and his forces into the Jedi Temple. He had actually assumed that he would be reunited with his former master and was disappointed to discover this was not the case.

+ Much of the Grand Master's style of lightsaber combat and erduite snobbery was based on his admiration of the late Count Dooku and, unbeknownst to him, annoyed the hell out of Darth Vader. His pretensions didn't particularly impress Palpatine either who considered him almost pathetically easy to manipulate as well as even servile.

+ The Grand Inquisitor's lack of a name is actually because it's unpronouncable gibberish to humans and he was always incredibly sensitive about it among the humans of the Imperial Court. In his native tongue being, "Blipbbbphbashzipdang" or something similar. It was part of the reason he installed the "First Brother" and "First Sister" system because he wanted to cover up what was essentially just having him possessed of an embarrassing first and last name.

+ The Grand Inquisitor's snobbery about the lower class origins of the Third Sister is ridiculous to Palpatine and Vader as well as most Sith. However, he was actually overcompensating for the fact he came from a perfectly "normal" family himself.

+ In the Legends timeline, the Grand Inquisitor went by the name "Torbin" and he was in fact the one assassinated by the Rebel Alliance with an assassin droid. Notably, said assassin droid was owned by Hera Syndulla and looked like an astromech.

 

"During the early years of the Empire, the red blades of the Inquisitorius cut a swath through the galaxy as they wiped any remaining traces of the Jedi Order from existence. Once the Jedi were finally considered extinct by the Empire, the Inquisitorius vanished into the darkness as well."
- Luke Skywalker, Secrets of the Jedi.

"The Jedi are extinct, their fire has gone out of the universe. You, my friend, are all that's left of their religion." - Tarkin, ANH

So once the Jedi were deemed extinct and the Inquistors "vanished", and it was at some point prior to ANH that the latter were deemed so* (though obviusly it's possible that some former Inquistors remained in service to the Empire in a different form**)

*probobly after the Battle of Lothal; Ezra is MIA and possibly presumed deceased along with Thrawn, Kanan is confirmed dead and Ashoka is either thought to have died or vanished.

**for instance that's how I incorporate Dark Forces II into my headcanon - after the Inquisition became defunct Jerec continiued on as an Imperial Advisor (in part so Palpatine would have a suitable "spare" in case he needed to replace Vader as his apprentice, but also becuase, out of the surviving Inquistors, he was actually useful and competent - ambitions nonewithstanding)

 

I would think just killing off the Inquisitors would be a waste of resources. They could do away with the Inquisitorius and make them more traditional spies and assassins...and Palpatine and Vader would be too busy to handle day to day training for Project Harvester which could lead to an Emperor's Hands type organization.

And it is not like if any of them got out of line and had delusions of taking out either of the Sith Lords they could not be swiftly dealt with,.

 

To be fair, there's only two years of the Empire's history the Inquisition wouldn't exist.

 

But why completely get rid of something that can cause problems for heroes for from ANH forward? For example if Ahsoka was to run into a former Inquisitor during her series or Luke had to deal with them after Jakku.

 

It's likely that with no more Jedi left to kill (and their purpose thus fufilled) Palpatine took the position that, as expendable tools that no longer had a purpose, they were essentially a loose end; it's not like Palpatine had any shortage of spies and assassins in his service without them.

But it's worth noting that it's only said they "disappeared" - so while it could be that Palpatine just got them all together for a "we finally killed the Jedi!" party and then offed them all, it's could also be that the organization was disbanded and it's surviving members (or at least those deemed useful enough) continiued to serve the Empire in other means sans armor, lightsabers and Brother/Sister codenames with nobody the wiser; heck, it could even be that they all went to Exegol and became part of the Sith Eternal as some sort of canon version of the Dark Side Elite.

It's pretty clear that they only went away "once the Jedi were finally considered extinct."

 

In my headcanon the canon version of the OT in Legends is the unaltered versions i think that Anakin would have liked to show himself as a father figure to Luke and not as a younger version of the same age of his son

 

But why have Operation Harvester if you are going to get kill off the Inquisitors. It is not like any of them pose a real threat to either Palpatine or Vader. And if any of them got delusions to the contrary they would be shwacked quick, fast, and in a hurry.

In universe they are an asset to the Empire...out of universe they are story ideas that can be used to provide evil Force users if needed.

 

@Chris0013 maybe Palpatine had originally intended to keep them around long-term, but they proved to be such an overall disappointment he changed his mind and decided it was'nt worth it? Maybe he just does'nt like having tools around that don't fulfill a purpose/after their purpose had ended?

Or maybe they're still around, on Exegol or operating under different identities, and everyone just *assumes* the disapeared.

 

When C3PO and R2D2 ever die, they will get Forceghosts that look like Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker, proving that droids do have a soul!

 

Given all of the Sith cultists on Exogal, its very likely the Inquisitors were sent to the Unknown Regions to start setting up the Final Order. Remember, the Final Order is the Byss equivalent that goes full Space Satanist.

Indeed, its very likely the First Order was a mistake created by Admiral Sloane diverting Rax's resources that were meant to be part of the Final Order and Palpatine just let it happen because he's never one to let a good crisis to waste.

Palpatine probably appreciated having an additional layer of deception to screw around the galaxy with.

 

Ever play THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: A LINK TO THE PAST for the SNES?

Yeah, one of the things is that there's an evil wizard named Agahnim that takes over the Kingdom of Hyrule and does all the evil in the Light World. Later, when Link slays him, he is revealed to be a projection of the will from Ganon in the Dark World.

Why do I bring this up?

This is how I see the relationship between Snoke and Palpatine. Snoke isn't even a free-willed being but basically Palpatine projecting his consciousness into a clone he created and raised to be his mouthpiece in the First Order. Whenever Snoke didn't have Palpatine possessing him, he was a mid-tier Dark Sider at best and mostly indulged in decadent luxury in his bathrobes and slippers.

Palpatine actually was in control when Kylo Ren defeated him, though, which embarrassed Darth Sidious. He didn't see it coming because he'd been looking for redemption or love but not revenge.

He had to admit, that was on him.

 

Then why did he decide to mess with it as soon as he met Revan and Malak?

 

Why didn’t he try that with someone else for the 1000 years before Revan was born?

 

My impersion from the way everything is presented is that the Emperor had intended Revan and Malak to locate the Star Forge for him so he could vastly ramp up his military production and gain acess to it's secrets (as they could travel to certain planets in known space to find the Star Maps without raising undue suspicion), but Revan betrayed him with the outwardly-noble goal of conquering the Republic as quickly - and with as little damage to it's infrastructure - as possible with the intention of defending the galaxy from the invasion of the "true" Sith.

Malak's goal after removing Revan, I figure, was either to prove himself to Vitiate by crushing the Republic for him or rushing to crushing the Republic with the intent of turning around to fight the Vitiate in an intergalactic war for dominance for control over the galaxy and the Sith.

Is'nt that where the imprisoned Revan basically manipulating Vitiate and tempering his aggression for centuries so the Republic could rebuild comes in?

Snoke has POV moments in the novelization of TLJ, though - and in them he pretty clearly treats Sidious as a different person then himself with a clear agenda beyond just indulging himself.

Given all the information that currently exists I'm a big fan of the "Snoke is a clone of someone else born before the rise of the Empire, who was possibly killed by Luke and is either Palpatine's unknowning patsy or his knowing proxy."